Heat
by TheSoundOfAurora
Summary: Chasing visions, like trying to catch your own reflection - Alice has been hunting for years, but time is running out to find her future. And when she does, what then? A summer night and a knife edge, a choice between eternity and fire. [Alice/Jasper, AU]


**Author's note**: This short story is part of a reimagined Twilight universe. The relevant differences here are that Alice is half Japanese, and the timeline is slightly different.

**Disclaimer**: Twilight and associated characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. This story belongs to me.

* * *

**Heat**

_Saigon, Vietnam_

_Summer 1963_

The heady, overwhelming heat of the Saigon night bore down on the city, but compared to the burning summer sun of a few hours before it was pleasantly balmy, so the streets were packed. Noise, chaos and commerce was happening on all sides, and the smells wafted into the foggy air and travelled for miles.

Alice wandered along the street, brushing between street vendors, late night shoppers, sex workers, soldiers and all the varied denizens of the city. People didn't shove too hard when they saw her. Petite and delicate though she was, there was some subliminal warning that strangers felt when they looked her way.

As she walked her mind was still searching, trying to pin down the place. She recognised so many of the streets, from her visions and her previous visits combined. Details stood out to her here and there and she would focus on them, only to see a near miss or a failure. No use.

But she knew he was here. She'd caught his scent on the breeze tonight, and she could feel how close he was. Like a compass too close to the pole, her sense of direction couldn't pinpoint him, but she knew his presence was the reason she was so lost. The closer she got the harder it was to focus, because of all the possible points at which they could cross paths.

There- A flash of his face through her mind, his stunned stare as he caught sight of her- But it was gone again. What had been in the background? She fought to focus on the insignificant things, the shape of the doorframe, the low tables surrounded by people, the coloured lights flashing violet and yellow across his pale cheek. The people... Gamblers? Playing cards. Drinking. Women sitting in their laps. A bar, maybe, or a brothel. No help at all - there were hundreds of both around this part of Saigon.

_Where **are** you?_ she thought desperately. _God, why won't you just **stay still**?_

In a way she'd been walking aimlessly, but as she circled back towards the coffee house where she had rented a room she did make sure to scuff her shoulder against a wall, brush her hand against a tree, touch the signpost at the end of the road. If he was as cautious as she had been beginning to discover, he would notice. Maybe he would come looking for her.

Another flash. His hair like gold against her fingers, his eyes wide in the dark as she pressed herself against him and kissed his lips- Of course, the things her gift showed her were always the ones she'd find most important in the moment, not the ones that actually helped her to get there. Maddening.

Maybe waiting was best. Give him a little more time. He was sharp, observant - she didn't want him to think she was a threat, given the way she'd been tracking him. Better to sit still for a while perhaps, let him find out more about her so he could gauge her intent.

Yes, that sounded wise.

There. Earth-shakingly strong, the feel of his arms around her, his breath on her neck, his body pressed close to hers as he thrust her against a wall, _oh god_-

How was she supposed to be patient when the universe kept taunting her with echoes like that?

No. Time to go back, smile at the gentleman who ran the café, sit on the balcony of her apartment and listen to the sounds of the street. That would be enough. It had to be enough for now.

_He's so close, so close, so close I can breathe him in_

_Jasper, Jasper, Jasper, I love you, please hurry up_

When she got upstairs she pushed the french doors wide and leant on the metal rail, breathing in the heat and the scents carried on the night air. There were so many layers, tangles of different things, it was impossible to catch anything for sure, but she could swear that there was something on the breeze that was familiar - or unfamiliar, really. It was tough to keep that straight in her head. The stranger she was so in love with had to be out there somewhere. Maybe one day she'd actually find him.

She sat there as the night wore on, listening to the music playing in the clubs and cafés along the surrounding streets, watching the stars drift across the sky. A cicada had found a spot in the eaves above her, and it sang for her with obsessive intensity, pulsing its rhythmic desires deep into the night. Its passionate love songs seemed to match the wild impatience in her head, and she closed her eyes and listened to it for a time, sympathising with its fervour.

As the hours swept by, drenched in the heat, restlessness struck her again. She left her perch and crossed the rooftops aimlessly, wandering among the chimneys and the power lines. Up there, the faint strains of that familiar fragrance caught her again, more strongly now, and she stopped where she stood and breathed for a time, trying to tell how long ago he had passed this way. Minutes, hours, days?

Then something else caught her attention, and she listened. A sliver of music made its way up to her from a few streets away, and the burst of certainty made her head spin. She had to get closer.

Dropping down to the pavement, she darted down one alley and then another, and then stepped cautiously into the open fronted street café that had drawn her.

It was busy even at this hour, dozens of patrons gathered at the low tables and drinking small cups of coffee. The fact that it was so packed, combined with the aroma, made Alice confident that this was probably the best coffee house for quite a few miles around. People were playing cards, too, laughing and smoking and talking in Vietnamese. In a way she loved places like this. Chaotic, certainly, but so exhilaratingly human.

The gramophone at the back of the room was playing Etta James. Alice found herself smiling, and she nodded to the girl making the coffee and handed over some money. There weren't any empty seats, but she found a spot near the music, perched on the steps at the back of the café that led to the apartment upstairs with her tiny cup cradled in her hands. She closed her eyes, losing herself for a moment.

'_At last..._'

It struck her so hard she shuddered, her eyes growing wide as she stared at her surroundings. _Oh_. There it all was. She hadn't recognised it as she'd entered, all at the wrong angles, but from here she could see it just right - the men playing poker, the girls sitting with them, the neon lights flashing from the other side of the street. This was the place.

And there he was. Standing on the pavement, silhouetted by the coloured lights, his every muscle tensed to vanish again if she made the wrong move. She hadn't even heard him arrive. He was like a ghost.

'Please stay,' she whispered. 'Please.'

He stood frozen like a statue, like he was trying to decide whether to run. Alice sat just as still, so afraid that if she blinked he would disappear into nothingness.

The scent of him floated in from the street on the vagaries of the night breeze. She had to fight not to gasp it in, eager as an addict. It was real, he was truly right in front of her. _Oh god, if only he'd stay._

When he took a step inside she almost sobbed with relief. He went to the bar as if he was only there for coffee, but she could see his eyes darting to her sidelong, barely letting her out of his sight. The girl went to pour another cup at the sight of him, not bothering to ask what he wanted, and he turned to watch Alice.

'I've been waiting for you,' she breathed, an aching smile catching at her cheeks.

The way he shifted was almost imperceptible, even to her, and yet she recognised it instantly. On edge, preparing to move. Fearful of her intentions. It was all alien to her, but she knew the tension like it was her own.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to panic. He was so close, _so close_ and she if she couldn't make him stay then she'd been chasing him for weeks for nothing. The longer she followed him the less he would trust her.

'Please, Jasper,' she whispered. 'I just need to talk to you.'

A couple of agonisingly long seconds passed. Then she felt his presence at the same moment he crouched beside her, his fingers wrapped around her throat with steely delicacy.

'What did you call me?'

His voice sent golden shivers of desire tingling up and down her spine, and her head rested softly on his shoulder. The hand against her neck was an afterthought. She was drowning in his scent, his touch, his closeness, barely able to think as the waves of future memories swept over her like a beautiful sea.

'I- You are Jasper, aren't you? That's the name I- I remember you, Jaz, you're...' _My best friend? My whole future? The love of my life?_ What words could she say that wouldn't make him think she was dangerously insane?

But maybe she didn't have to say it. His grip had changed, and so had his breathing. He seemed to be sensing something from her. Maybe he knew somehow that she wasn't afraid. What did he think of it? He didn't seem angry anymore, more like... stunned?

'Why...' he began hoarsely. 'You... love me. Why do you... No, you're lying. You've gotta be lying. You don't know nothing about me.'

His fingers tightened around her windpipe. Alice felt a slash of real fear at his words. How did he know? How could she explain herself?

The humans in the café were mostly still ignoring the white man at the back of the room, studiously avoiding paying him too much attention. The American accent was probably another good reason not to disturb him, whatever he was doing to the pale little woman. After all, she was a stranger too, no matter if she looked a little more like she belonged here than he did.

'Jasper, please,' she whispered, voice strained by his tightening grip. 'I won't lie to you, just please stay.'

The woman serving coffee called across nervously to get his attention. Alice felt him twitch.

'Fine,' he hissed in her ear. 'Don't move or I'll rip to you pieces.'

Shaking with nerves, she watched as he grabbed the cup of coffee from the lady at the counter and threw her a couple of dollars. Then he leant against the banister close to her and gave her a dark look. Not sitting, Alice noted, not letting his guard down, still ready to vanish into thin air.

'What do you want from me?' he muttered. 'You've been on my tail for weeks. You think I wouldn't notice you tracking me around?'

'Trying to find you so we could talk,' Alice insisted. She lifted her coffee to breathe in the steam, doing her best to seem calmer than she felt. 'I just wanted to meet you. That's all. The last thing I would ever want is for you to be harmed.'

He was staring at her strangely, his head a little tilted as his eyes flickered over her face. Trying to make sense of her? Or to work out what she was hiding? His gaze darted around the room, too, checking every movement before returning to her. Suspicious. Fearful. Paranoid.

'You talk like an American,' he noted sharply. 'Where'd you get that accent?'

'I was born in LA,' Alice sighed. 'I've lived in America all my life.'

He narrowed his eyes. 'Who told you to find me?'

'You did,' Alice whispered, a tangle of heartache knotting in her chest as the memory of his dying breaths returned to her. 'I had to find you, to stop you from... from throwing yourself away.'

A shiver ran through him, visible in the way his hands trembled.

'You're making stuff up,' he murmured warningly. 'Talk sense, or I'm gone.'

Flashes of horrible futures were blurring through her mind - death, loss, blood everywhere, would he really kill all these people if he feared her enough? No, he would run, she would never catch him, the bomb would still fall, he would never trust her - oh god, what was she doing? How had she ever dreamed she could save him? How _could_ she save him?

'If I told you I could see things... visions... would you think I was mad?' she asked, smiling desperately.

His face was unreadable. It terrified her. For several seconds he watched her, expressionless.

'Visions. Of the future?' he asked flatly.

'In a way. Nothing's ever sure until it's happened, though,' Alice answered, her eyes slipping to his hands, the way they stayed still as stone on his knees. 'I see possibilities, you could say.'

He almost flinched. She wondered what was going through his head. Was that wrong thing to say?

'So why me? Why'd you follow me all the way out here? For a possibility?'

She took a breath. _Spilt coffee, smoke, trash on the street, sweat, the salt-sweet metallic lure of pulsing blood- _But overwhelming all of that was the smell of him. The leather of his coat, the linen of his shirt, and the rich perfume of his skin so strong it was like a drug. God, how was she supposed to think straight with him making her dizzy like that?

'No,' she whispered. 'You've been certain for years. It was just a matter of when.'

He put the coffee cup aside carefully. She wondered if he was preparing to run.

'Certain how?'

'That I'd fall in love with you.'

A flicker in his eyes - panic? Distrust? Confusion? His muscles tensed like he was going to move. Desperate, Alice yearned to reach for him, take his hand, but the knowledge that he would bolt became even more certain then, so she stopped herself.

'Why?' he said hoarsely.

She stared at him, lost for words. How could she begin to explain? It was the only thing in the world she'd ever been sure of. Like an anchor, holding her steady for years, giving her something to hold onto, promising her that if she was patient, if she worked hard enough, she wouldn't have to be alone forever. She could have some kind of happiness.

She closed her eyes and tried not to breathe anymore. The overpowering scent of him was almost painful when she thought of losing him again.

'Hope,' she whispered.

There was a long hush between them. Outside of the invisible bubble that contained them the air was still full of laughter and voices and the roar of motors on the street, the slap of cards on the table, the clink of glasses. None of it could pierce its way in.

'What's your name, ma'am?' His voice had changed somehow. Strange, but calmer.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him. 'Alice.'

Meeting her gaze, he watched her thoughtfully. Pieces of the tension were easing away, his posture less severe. He leant on his knees, eyes darting back to the open street and then to her face again.

'Well, Miss Alice,' he murmured, 'I go by Lou White these days when I need a name, but you can call me Jasper if you want. And I have a couple of talents of my own that make me think maybe you're not lying.'

'Talents?'

His eyes fixed on hers, deep and consuming. 'I can feel it,' he said softly. 'What you're feeling for me. I thought you had me fooled somehow, but I don't know as that's possible, so I gotta believe you're telling the truth. It sure messes with my head like it's real.'

'What does?' she asked.

'You loving me,' he said. Matter of fact, like it was almost ordinary.

She gave a little laugh and had to put her cup aside for its own safety. 'I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you uneasy.'

He turned his head as if to glance at the street, but his eyes slid back to her again, looking her up and down with a little more curiosity.

'How long have you been... looking for me?'

'Only a little while,' she said, avoiding his gaze. 'I only realised I needed to come here about a year ago. It was all too vague before, I couldn't pin it down.'

'...You've really known about me for years?'

She nodded.

The server approached them tentatively, a pot in her hand, and said a few words in Vietnamese to Alice. She subtly poured out the contents of her cup and then accepted a refill, thanking her in the woman's own language. Alice watched Jasper's eyes on the lady as she walked away.

'Why are you here?' she asked him quietly.

He glanced at her, distracted. 'Here?'

'Vietnam. Why would you come here in the middle of a war?'

His lip curled humourlessly. 'War's all I'm good at, ma'am. Ain't got much else to fill the years.'

'That's not true,' she whispered, her voice shaking with feeling.

'Come again?'

'You're a good man, Jaz, you can be so much more than this.'

The cup shattered, spilling its contents onto the step. He grabbed a couple of napkins from the counter beside him and mopped the liquid away from her feet as she glanced around nervously. The waitress didn't seem to have noticed.

'Time to go,' he muttered. He reached as if to grab her arm, and then hesitated. With more precision, he offered her his hand. 'Ma'am?'

She took it and stood. His grip was firm but gentle now, and flickers of more futures sparked through her thoughts like a slideshow. Those hands were some of her favourite things in the universe, she could feel it. All of her skin seemed to be begging for them, tingling and hot like wildfire.

A shocked look crossed his face, and she had to brush past him to hide her embarrassment.

He stayed behind to her as she stepped out onto the street. His presence so close to her was intoxicating, and she had to stop breathing again, fighting the fog of craving inside her head.

By unspoken agreement, they walked down the street a couple of blocks and then into an empty alleyway. Then in a couple of leaps they were on the roof.

It was quieter there, the music and the bustle of the city below filtering up to them through the hazy air. They stood a little at odds, keeping some space between them, watching one other cautiously like they were each waiting for the other to make the first move.

'Come home with me,' Alice said suddenly.

'What?'

'To America. Please. Don't stay here. It's too dangerous.'

He rolled his eyes. 'What's gonna kill me? No bullet's done me in yet.'

'For god's sake, war isn't just about guns anymore, Jasper,' she pleaded. 'They've made so many worse things. You don't owe it to anyone to stay here.'

'What's left for me anywhere else?' he snapped. 'Even if I get blown up, who cares? Haven't seen many good reasons to keep on living lately.'

'Don't you dare,' she hissed. 'Don't you _dare_ talk like that.'

'Why? 'Cause you love me? Pardon me if that ain't quite enough to change my life, ma'am,' he said coldly. 'I've been around for more'n a hundred years, and I'm tired. You think I'm gonna die here? Maybe it's about time. I'm happy to call it quits.'

'No you're not,' Alice growled, storming right up to his chin and grabbing his collar. 'World-weary is one thing, but I've _seen_ you. I _know_ the kind of life we could have. Do you know there are people out there like us? We're going to be _happy_ one day, Jasper. We'll have a family. I've been waiting for you for years, I don't know how to find them without you. You've been alone for too long, you don't know what you're saying.'

'Family?' His lip curled.

'Yes! Friends, people we care about. We will be loved, and love in return. Isn't that worth waiting for?'

His hair brushed against her knuckles as he tilted his head, and she let go of his shirt to run her fingers through the golden strands. A kind of heart-aching tenderness caught at her and forced the air out of her lungs. He was uncertain, some decision teetering on a knife edge, and on one side was death, but on the other the future was so big it couldn't even fit into her head. Sunlight and endless nights and laughter and singing and holding his hand and lying naked in his arms- Everything blurred together into one painfully beautiful eternity, the stars swirling above them over centuries upon centuries of dreams-

'Stop that,' he groaned, gripping her wrist and tearing it away from his cheek. 'Stop messing with my head. I can't figure this out, damn it. Keep your euphoria to yourself.'

'I can't!' Alice cried, tangling her free hand into his hair stubbornly. 'I _love_ you, I've loved you forever and I always will. I don't know how else to feel, Jasper. I can't just switch it off.'

'How the hell do you know that?' he demanded, taking a step back and then another as she followed. 'I don't know you. You don't know _me_. You ain't seen what I am, just what you want me to be.'

'I have seen it,' Alice said fiercely. 'You keep changing your mind, and I keep seeing it all. I could walk away from you right now if you say that's what you want, and you'll keep on fighting in this hideous, immoral war until you're burned to ash. Or you can kiss me and say you'll go with me and we'll have years, Jasper, _years_ of everything you've ever wanted. You'll tell me one day, all the things you're ashamed of, and I won't hate you for it. You know I won't. You know I _couldn't_, not even if I wanted to.'

'I don't know that,' he snarled, shoving her away roughly. 'What do you expect? That I'm just gonna trust you?'

'Yes,' she said simply, stopping where he'd pushed her and letting her hands fall to her sides.

They stood staring at one another for several seconds, chests heaving as they both tried to regain some composure.

'You're serious,' Jasper said finally.

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'You can trust me because you _know_ how much I love you. You can feel it every second you're near me,' she said quietly. 'I can't hide that from you. I can't make it up. I'm not that good an actress.'

'What if I don't care?'

She flinched. _His back as he walked away, his cold eyes, alone for a thousand years as she waited and waited and tried to believe that anyone else could make her as happy-_ But it was gone again in a fraction of a second. He wasn't sure. Not quite.

'You're a free man,' she said, with a light shrug. 'You don't have to want me. But you _can_, if you decide to. We'd be happy. That's all.'

'An' you think that'll happen, if I kiss you now?' he asked hoarsely.

'I don't know. It could. Maybe it doesn't matter. I'd still want you to.'

A siren blared a few blocks away. Music played. People shouted, dogs barked, restless babies cried. The night drifted on, as sleepless as they were.

'I can't promise you anything,' Jasper warned. 'Even if I said I wanted to try it, it might not work. I'm not... good, Miss Alice.'

'That's not true. But I don't care about the rest. To have you, Jasper? I'll take any risk.'

Her heart ached as his decision wavered, but she smiled anyway. It was true. Nothing mattered in the end, except that she could tell herself she'd tried.

'Why me?' he whispered.

A thousand possible answers tumbled through her mind, but she could only shrug. 'I don't know. I just know that you're the only one in the world who I want.'

He reached for her then, tentative and slow, his fingertips stroking her cheek as softly as the warm night breeze. His eyes searched her face, fearful but somehow full of wonder.

'I don't understand,' he said.

She nestled her cheek into his palm, putting her hand lightly to his chest where his silent heart lay. 'Nor do I.'

When he kissed her it was just a brush of the lips, still uncertain, confused. His eyes held hers, wide and full of questions, but she could feel how much he wanted to believe her. There was awe in his face too, like he was being offered something he'd never even dreamed of.

She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, deep and full and tender.

_Mine. My future, my dreams, my love, my universe. Please, just promise me you'll try._

Soon the sky blossomed into the pale blush of dawn, and the rooftop was empty again. So was the apartment above the café when the owner went in search of the rent. So were the coffee house steps. But somewhere on the coast, two pairs of footsteps went down across the sand and vanished into the sea.

It was time to go home.


End file.
